


Stuck

by Deadlihood



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: """platonic"", Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Platonic bed sharing, group projects, lil bit of smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 09:33:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9173905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deadlihood/pseuds/Deadlihood
Summary: Jooheon just wanted a good grade on the project.





	

Jooheon barely skidded into class on time, coffee in one hand and a wet umbrella in the other. He dropped into his usual spot in the back, breathing heavily. The people around him stared for a moment, then returned to looking at the professor, who was fiddling with the lectern trying to get his PowerPoint running.

Jooheon managed to dig his notebook out of his damp backpack and get a pen out before the professor started up. He had never been good at taking notes in class; he just wasn’t fast enough to get down everything he thought was important, which was basically everything. At this point in the semester, with the kind of midterm they’d had, everything the professor said was important.

Halfway through the class, Jooheon’s hand started to cramp and his coffee had gone cold. He flexed his hand painfully, eyes still trained on the screen to make sure he didn’t miss anything.

The professor flicked to another slide with the words “GROUP PRESENTATION” written across it. Jooheon’s heart sank. He’d always been the kind of person to carry a group presentation but he didn’t know if he could do it in this particular class, where he was fighting tooth and nail to get a decent grade.

“I’ve got you divided into pairs,” the professor was saying. “When I call your names, raise your hands so you can see where your partner is. When I’m done, then you can get together, trade contact information, that kind of thing.”

Jooheon waited anxiously as he read off the list of pairs. He was terrified he was going to get paired with that stoner kid in the corner who always slept during class, or the really scary old guy who glared at everyone and smelled like cigar smoke.

“Shin Hoseok, and Lee Jooheon.” The professor read out, and Jooheon nearly choked on his coffee. Great, he missed the stoner kid, but he got the kid who sat in the front and joked with the professor like they were old pals, had probably the highest grade in the class, and was one of the hottest people Jooheon had ever seen.

He was so busy panicking he didn’t notice when Hoseok started making his way back towards him, dropping into the empty seat in front of him. Jooheon jerked and nearly spilled cold coffee all over himself when he realized Hoseok was sitting there.

Hoseok just smiled pleasantly, pushing his hand through his teal-tipped gray hair. “I’m Hoseok.”

“Jooheon.” He squeaked out.

“Nice to meet you.” Hoseok cracked his notebook open, a nice hard-cover one that didn’t look half as beat up as Jooheon’s. “So, the professor gave us basically free reign on what we want to present on, as long as we cover something from the course. Anything in particular stick out to you?”

“Uh.” Jooheon felt like he’d suddenly become illiterate as soon as he started looking over the syllabus. “I liked the unit on the Romantics.”

A smile broke across Hoseok’s face like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. “Great, I was hoping we could do something on that too. I was thinking about discussing the summer at Geneva with the Shelleys, Byron, and Polidori.”

“What about it?”

“Well, _Frankenstein_ came out of that, and the short story that led to _Dracula_. I was thinking maybe we could talk about those works and their impact on culture and fiction.”

That sounded smart to Jooheon. “Sure, that sounds great.”

“Cool. I’ll just go tell Professor Jung that’s what we’re doing so we don’t have someone else doing it too.” He took off for the front, leaving his nice leather messenger bag and his notebook in front of Jooheon. He suddenly felt very scruffy, with his mangled notebook and high school backpack. He was a freshmen, sure, but that didn’t mean he had to look so horribly like one.

Hoseok picked his way back down the aisle and sat in front of him again. “All right, we’ve got a claim on that topic.” He pulled out his phone, flicking through the screens quickly. “Here, put your number in.”

Jooheon felt like he was all thumbs as he filled in the new contact form. Hoseok took the phone back and called him. Jooheon thanked God his phone was on silent so “Thriller” didn’t come blasting on.

All around them, people were packing up to go. Jooheon checked the time and thanked God that his second class of the day had gotten canceled. He would have hated to sprint across campus in this kind of weather. Hoseok got caught up in a conversation with another student and Jooheon slipped out quietly.

He had a feeling he’d be spending a while at the library, laboring over anything and everything he could find on their topic so he didn’t look like a complete asshole the next time they met. So that was where he spent the majority of the day, tucked away in a corner of the stuffy library with stacks and stacks of books in front of him. By the time he finished, it was dark and the rain sounded like it was letting up.

It was still a long walk back to his dorm. He jammed his hands deep into his pockets, curling his shoulders in to try to hold in the warmth. He almost considered jogging back to the dorm, but he was afraid he’d slip and smash his face in or something.

As he opened the door to the dorm, a blast of hot air hit him in the face, almost burning his icy skin. He hurried inside and up the stairs. He was about to unlock his door when he smelled pizza and poked his head into the lounge.

“Jooheon, come eat!” Minhyuk, his RA, said. “It’s too cold for you all to go out and eat.”

“Tell me about it.” Jooheon put his cold hand on the back of his neck, making him yelp. “I just walked home from the library.”

“Yikes. Well, eat up. I ordered plenty for everyone.”

Jooheon ate his fill before heading for his room. He shared a double with a frat guy who spent most nights at his sorority girl girlfriend’s apartment, which meant Jooheon usually had the room to himself. He was just happy to be able to take off his damp socks and curl up under his covers. It had been too long of a day and his brain felt like it might melt right out of his ears.

His phone buzzed and he groaned, grabbing it off the desk. As he glared at the screen, the name _Hoseok_ popped up.

_Professor Jung just sent an email out with the due date, it’s sooner than I thought. Are you free to meet tomorrow night to work?_

It wasn’t like Jooheon had a busy social schedule. Changkyun’s parents had come to visit and he was staying with them in the hotel for the weekend. He had mostly planned on staying in and watching movies or something. What surprised him was that Hoseok was willing to give up his Saturday night to work on a project. He figured he was the kind of guy who was invited to every party.

 _Yeah I can meet tomorrow_ , he typed back hesitantly. With any luck, he wouldn’t embarrass himself.

\--

Jooheon practically had to canoe to Hoseok’s apartment the next day, it was raining so hard. By the time he made it to his front door, he was almost completely soaked.

“Jesus, it’s really coming down out there, huh?” Hoseok said, ushering him inside. “Come on, let’s see if we can dry you out.” Hoseok sat him down next to the old heater, a big white metal wall unit that smelled like burning dust, but it was warm. Hoseok gave him a mug of something that smelled like hot cider, but when he took a sip, something burned.

“What’s in this?” He choked out.

Hoseok chuckled. “Whiskey. It’ll warm you up.” He picked up his own mug. “Cheers.”

Jooheon took a long drink, and he was right. He did start feeling all warm inside, and his outsides were starting to dry out a little from sitting next to the heater.

“So, should we start working on the project?” Jooheon asked.

“You dry enough to sit on my couch now?” Hoseok watched as he patted himself down. “Okay, you seem dry. My roommate would kill me if I let you sit on our couch like a wet dog. Not that you’re a dog.”

“I got it.” Jooheon sat on the couch, pulling his notebook out of his bag and flipping to the notes he had taken on the sources the day before.

“Wow, you really got into this.” Hoseok peered over his shoulder.

“I figured I needed to do some extra research to keep up.”

“What do you mean?”

Jooheon let out an embarrassed laugh. “It’s just that you always have something to say. I didn’t want to drag your grade down just because I’m not as smart as you.”

“Well, that’s bullshit. I don’t think I’m any smarter than anyone else in that class. I just do the reading and it’s a subject I like so I retain it. I’m not even an English major; I’m here for music production.”

“Could have fooled me.” Jooheon mumbled into his mug of cider.

“We’re going to do just fine on this project. Don’t worry about it.” He pulled up his own document with some notes on _Dracula_ and the short story John Polidori had written at the Geneva house. “It looks like you focused more on _Frankenstein_.”

“Sort of. I was reading some article about it and I started thinking about the android genre, you know, bringing robots to life? Everyone says that Mary Shelley wrote the first science fiction novel, so if she hadn’t written that particular one, would we have the android genre?”

“Maybe not. Especially not movies where the scientist creates life and it turns on him. Which seems to be most of those movies.” Hoseok typed it into the document under the column heading “cultural ramifications.” “While I was thinking about _Dracula_ , all I kept thinking about was that movie with Keanu Reeves, the one where everything is really sexy? And how these things that were supposed to be scary and ugly got turned into sexy hunks.”

“I liked that movie.” Jooheon admitted. “But I see your point. Anne Rice and all the sexy vampire novels wouldn’t have had a starting place without the original Count Dracula.”

“No sexy vampires probably also means no sexy werewolves, no sexy zombies.”

“How do you make a zombie sexy?”

“I really don’t know. I would think the zombie’s dick would fall off.” Jooheon spluttered on the sip of cider he’d just taken. “What? It’s a decaying corpse, it shouldn’t be able to fuck.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” It occurred to him about half a mug’s worth of whiskey and cider later that he and Hoseok were actually having a nice conversation, and that he actually had things to contribute. It helped that he liked monster movies a lot and could talk about the themes he saw in them. They had started discussing ways of presenting their project when both of their phones went off, the long buzzes signaling a special message.

“We’ve got a flash flood warning, and a high wind advisory.” Hoseok got up and peeked through the curtains. “Shit, it looks like a hurricane out there.” Jooheon came up behind him and winced.

“Oh man, I have to walk home in that.”

“Are you crazy? You’ll get struck by lightning or have a tree land on top of you.” Hoseok shook his head. “No, you can stay here for the night. I’m not letting you go home in this.”

Jooheon came to the sudden realization that his crush had just asked him to spend the night, and he thought he had gone brain dead. “Are you sure?”

“Yes I’m sure. Now sit down, we have a Precis to make.”

Around midnight, both of them were on their second mugs and starting to get a little too goofy to keep working. They didn’t even have to make the conscious decision to stop working: the power cut out, leaving them in the dark.

“Well, I guess that’s it for tonight.” Hoseok giggled, closing his laptop. “I’ll find you a blanket.” Jooheon cleared the couch off, leaving himself a pillow to sleep on. He’d fit, not comfortably, but he’d fit. And at least he wouldn’t have to walk home in that howling wind. Hoseok came back with the extra blanket and made a show of tucking Jooheon in. Then he toddled off to his bedroom, half-closing the door.

Jooheon had been out on the couch for maybe ten minutes, clutching the blanket around him when the door opened and Hoseok emerged, wrapped in his duvet like a cape. “You’re going to freeze to death out here. Come on. I don’t mind sharing.”

It took a few seconds for what he’d said to click through Jooheon’s brain. Hoseok was offering his bed. He was going to share his bed with Jooheon. He swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry, and got off the couch.

“Here, I think these should fit.” Hoseok tossed him a pair of pajama pants.

“Thanks. Sleeping in these jeans was going to suck.” Jooheon wiggled them off and slipped into the soft flannel, just worn enough to be perfectly cozy. When he glanced up, he thought he saw Hoseok watching him, but with the shifting light he couldn’t be sure.

The bed was warm and fluffy. Hoseok had edged himself into the wall to make room for Jooheon. It was kind of uncomfortable, trying to lie there without really touching. Jooheon was afraid to move. Hoseok felt as rigid as a steel bar.

Carefully, Jooheon rolled onto his side, facing away from Hoseok. Even in his discomfort and the sound of the wind, he started to drift off fairly quickly. Hoseok heard when his breathing evened out and he fell asleep. The older boy shifted, trying to get comfortable, and let himself relax.

Everything was fine until Jooheon woke up at 3 am with something hard rubbing up against his ass and a moaning Hoseok in his ear. For a moment he didn’t know what to do. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw Hoseok’s eyes were closed.

“Hoseok?” Jooheon asked. No response, just a continual hard grind against him. “Hoseok?” This time he shook him, and it seemed to wake him up. Hoseok blinked a few times to clear his eyes, then noticed his hands were on Jooheon’s hips and that his hard dick was wedged practically between Jooheon’s cheeks.

“Oh my God.” Hoseok let go of him like he was on fire. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” He scrambled away to sit at the end of the bed, his breathing harsh and heavy. “I was dreaming and I just-”

“It’s okay.” Jooheon was a little disappointed he had been asleep. He sat up, pulling his knees to his chest, and shyly asked, “What were you dreaming about?”

Hoseok let out a choked little sound. “What?”

“What were you dreaming about?” Jooheon couldn’t even believe he was asking. “Were you dreaming about me?” He could see the flash of Hoseok’s arm coming up to run a hand through his hair. He wasn’t sure how much further he could press his luck. “Because to be honest, I was really hoping you were awake.”

There was a beat of silence and Jooheon felt incredibly dizzy. God damn him and his big mouth.

“I was dreaming about you.” Hoseok said softly, so softly Jooheon almost didn’t hear him. “And you were right there and I guess I just went for it.”

“I didn’t mind.” Both of them were sitting up now, one of Hoseok’s legs half pulled in front of him, probably to hide his hard-on. “You can come back up here, it’s probably cold.”

“It is cold.” Hoseok came back slowly, keeping his back close to the wall so there was space between them. Jooheon was nervous. He wanted to kiss Hoseok so badly, but he also didn’t want to get thrown out. So he edged a little closer, and Hoseok didn’t back away. “How old are you?”

“19.” Jooheon let one of his knees brush his. “You?”

“20.” Hoseok sighed. “Jooheon, I feel like I’m taking advantage of you.”

“You aren’t. God, I’ve had a crush on you the whole semester.”

“You have?”

“Yes, I have. You’re only like, the smartest kid in the class, and hot to boot, and you’re sweet and nice and you offered to share your bed with a complete stranger.”

If the lights had been on, Jooheon could have seen that Hoseok was blushing. “Honestly, when Professor Jung put us together I was tapping my toes because I thought you were cute.”

“So you’re not taking advantage of _me,_ you’re taking advantage of this wind storm.”

“Well when you put it like that.” Hoseok reached out, cupping Jooheon’s cheek with one hand. “Will you let me take you on a date after this?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Okay.” Hoseok blew out a breath. “Okay.” And then he leaned in and kissed Jooheon, gently at first, and then a little deeper.

Jooheon had been expecting a little making out, maybe some light groping. He was not expecting to find himself straddling Hoseok’s hips, hands gripping the headboard and grinding himself down onto Hoseok. Hoseok’s fingers were digging into his waist so hard it almost hurt but everything else felt so good, especially Hoseok’s lips on his neck. Hoseok whimpered at one particular swivel down and started rutting up against him. It didn’t take long for first Jooheon, and then Hoseok to finish.

“We just dry-humped like teenagers.” Hoseok giggled, holding a boneless, sweaty Jooheon in his lap.

“I am a teenager.” Jooheon gasped out. “And I feel icky.”

“Yeah this is pretty gross.” Hoseok kissed him hard, then patted him gently on the ass. “Let’s go get cleaned up.” Jooheon did the best he could, but his boxers were a total wash. He had to put the flannel pants back on over his bare ass, which was a weird feeling, but it was nice to be able to get back into bed with Hoseok without anything sticky.

This time they cuddled up together, listening to the rainstorm outside. Jooheon fell asleep with one of Hoseok’s arms wrapped around his waist, the wind and rain crashing against the window.


End file.
